Taylor holds his cards in casino bid

Tory council leader Ken Taylor has reached an impasse with his party’s bigwigs over their refusal to lobby for more pilot supercasinos.

He’s failed to persuade party leader David Cameron to do a U-turn nationally on Tories‘ opposition to having more than one pilot supercasino.

And he’s spoken to the shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Hugo Swire, who also doesn’t want to increase them to eight.

Cllr Taylor said: „I have to say I disagree with them, but there wasn’t an argument about it. They understand our position in Coventry.“

Tories in Coventry are determined to make the new Ricoh Arena work – and a key tenant will be the Isle of Capri company who have reserved space for a huge super-casino there.

They face opposition within their own party nationally – it was Tories and LibDems who forced the government to back down from original plans for eight pilots.

Cllr Taylor is concentrating his efforts on campaigning for eight supercasinos and is refusing to knock a rival bid for one at the National Exhibition Centre.

Birmingham City Council this week backed the NEC bid, dropping its support for an alternative one proposed by Birmingham City Football Club at Saltley.